BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
There aren’t that many people left living who remember the day the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor, just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. That was 82 years ago, when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise military attack against the United States at the U.S. Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Those who were children may still remember their parents’ reaction to the news, but even someone who was a child of age 10 at that time would be 92 years old now. Those who were young adults, possibly serving in the military that day or of an age to serve, say 18 years old then, would be 100 years old today.
As those with firsthand memories and stories to tell of experiencing such horrific and unprecedented events pass away, we rely on history books, old newspapers, audio and visual documentation, and movies depicting those events to keep that history alive.
World War II was raging, the U.S. was neutral, but the Japanese attack on American soil was the last straw. The U.S. formally entered the war on the side of the Allies the very next day, on Dec. 8, 1941.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers proclaimed Dec. 7, 2023, to be “Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day” in Wisconsin and ordered flags to be flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset on this day.
“Each year, in recognition of National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we lower the flags across our state to honor the more than 50 service members from Wisconsin who lost their lives, the more than 2,000 other individuals who were killed, and the countless others who were injured or whose lives were forever changed by the attack on Pearl Harbor,” said Gov. Evers. “Today, we remember and pay tribute to these individuals, including so many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice, and we offer our gratitude and respect for our veterans and service members as we reflect upon a dark day in our nation’s history and ensure future generations understand and appreciate their memory and their legacy.”
To be clear, atrocities against humanity demanded countries like the U.S. step in to help stop them. Germany had invaded Poland in Sept. 1939; Hitler was on a mission to annihilate the entire Jewish race along with countless other groups of human beings he didn’t like and to kill anyone who stood in his way and the path of the Nazi regime he had created; in June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union; and on Dec. 7, 1941, Japan attacked Dutch, British, and U.S. military bases in Asia in addition to Pearl Harbor.
According to all accounts, more lives were lost in World War II (WWII) worldwide than in any other war to date. Forty to fifty million people died in WWII. It is impossible to ever know the exact number.
According to Census.gov, more than 16 million U.S. citizens fought in WWII in the Army, Navy, and Marines combined. More than 405,000 of those Americans died in the war; more than 290,000 of them in battle; and another nearly 671,000 American service men and women suffered non-mortal wounds.
This is the Cliff Notes version, barely touching the surface of why it’s important to remember days like this. But today, on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, take a moment to think about what that day was like for Americans, both in Honolulu and throughout the country, and the events that unfolded in the years that followed, particularly until the end of WWII in 1945. These events forever changed the world. They are our history. And our history and how we process all that transpired in our past is what makes us who and what we are today, whether as a nation or as individual people.